noun
starling
STAH-lihng
noun
1
A common small to medium-sized bird known for its dark, glossy, iridescent feathers and noisy flocking behaviour.
"Thousands of starlings swirled together in a huge flock at dusk."
"A starling landed on the fence and began to sing."
How to Use Starling
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA small dark bird famous for gathering in huge, swooping flocks called murmurations.
Common pairings
flock of starlings
starling murmuration
common starling
Word Forms
starlings plural, starlings plural
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Etymology
From Old English stærling, combining stær ("starling") with the diminutive suffix "-ling," so it originally meant something like "little starling."